Uh....Ava...
I love the "idea" of Ava. I like the idea of Lily have a
flesh-and-blood sister on canvas. Unfortunately I, and many others
from what I hear, absolutely hate, loathe and despise Ava with the
intensity of a thousand suns. Levin Rambin is a FABULOUS actress.
She breathes life, honesty and believability into the character of
Lily Montgomery. Talented actress that she is, she also makes Ava
"real" for us. A little too real, given how poorly conceived and
written the character of Ava has and continues to be. Perhaps therein
lies the problem. Levin can play a tree stump brought to life - that
doesn't mean we want to see a tree stump sucking up all the air time
on AMC (or ANY air time!) It's a crying shame how badly written Ava
is. She is so completely unlikable and one dimensional. I understand
that they were probably trying to make her the polar opposite of Lily,
but they went too far overboard - or not far enough. If they were
trying to go for a Stuart-Adam redux they seriously missed the mark.
At least Adam is LIKABLE; Ava? Not at all. Add to that the fact that
they put her with Jonathug? Bad, bad, BAD idea. It's completely
icky! No, check that... It's downright sick! Yet they continue to
bring her front and center and the more they do that? The more I look
away (read: FF). I'm sure that's not what the desired outcome is for
TPTB, but it's what I and many others (more and more everyday) are
forced to do, because she is just that hateable!

HOWEVER....

It's not too late to try and salvage her. If
they gave her some real depth, some warmth, some humanity, some
vulnerability and a freakin backstory so we'd understand why she is
so... so... so... what's the word I'm looking for here? Damaged? An
attention-whore? Yes, they threw us a little tidbit about how badly
her own mother treated her, but that wasn't enough to explain why Ava
is the way she is. And did I mention that putting her with Jonathug
was a bad mistake? Not just because he's a Lavery, but because he's
Jonathug; and... well, there's that whole Lily factor too. Being the
attention whore that she is, it's inconceivable that Ava would stand
still (for even one second) at being an obvious replacement for her
much-beloved younger sister. Ava is Lily - without her humanity and
depth - but able to be touched and have sex. There is nothing else to
see in her BUT that. Seriously. Otherwise, how could Jonathug so
suddenly be so madly in love with an empty vessel? He keeps telling
her that when he looks at her, he sees HER, not Lily. Um... yeah, we
believe THAT line, don't we? There is nothing to Ava except her
physical resemblance to Lily and her attention-whoring ways. Then
again, this is a Lavery we're talking about here, so...

I say, if there is any hope of salvaging the
character of Ava, TPTB need to get her away (far, FAR away) from
Jonathug and all things Lavery and center her back in the lives of the
Montgomery clan. While we're at it, bring Reggie Montgomery back. If
anyone could cut through all of Ava's bull and make her walk the line,
it would be Reggie!

Moving on...

OLTL:

Wow! What a little goldmine they've
found in Brittany Underwood / Langston Wilde. I love, love, LOVE that
they are throwing her and Dorian together! Dorian and Langston are
and will likely continue to be the personification of what Dorian and
AdriYAWNa SHOULD have been. Finally they have given Dorian someone
worthy of being a daughter to her. (I know, I know, Lang is not her
real daughter, but then again, AdriYAWNa is nothing like what a real
daughter of Dorian Lord would be, so...there!) I love that the
meddling Dorian of old stuck her nose in where it didn't belong and,
in the process, gained herself a new charge. Also, this is meaty
material for both women to sink their teeth into and they are both
equal to the challenge. Langston's story is truly heartbreaking - the
essence of soapiness. Yeah, it's improbable that a fifteen year old
could actually pull off what Lang did for a year and a half, but, so
what?! It's GREAT drama! I am really looking forward to them
exploring this storyline further and to seeing Langston struggle with
suddenly having a mother figure in her life again. After all, she had
no one telling her what to do for a year and a half, so she's gotten
accustomed to calling the shots for herself all by her onesie. It's
going to be difficult for her to sit back and allow Dorian to mother
her - as well meaning and loving as Dorian can be, she is intensely
meddlesome and it's going to create some friction between them - no
matter how grateful Langston is to her for "rescuing" her. Bring.
It. On. Oh, and let AdriYAWNa leave town or be killed off.

*emphatic nod*

Onto the other drama in Llanview... Manning vs.
McBain, et al. I mentioned this a few columns back, but it bears
repeating. Yes, Todd is a complete arse, but he's an arse who loves
and deserves to have his child back. Even the judge agreed. People
are so down on him for behaving... well... like... Todd - as if that
were a sudden change in character for him. I have heard people
wanking on him about how he should be more understanding and grateful
to Marcie and Michael for taking care of his son all this time... Uh,
yeah... One half of that duo was knowingly and actively doing
everything he could to keep Todd's son away from him. Because it was
best for Tommy? No. Because it was best for him and his wife. This
couple, to whom Todd is supposed to behave so graciously, were full of
sympathy and well-wishes for him to find the son that had been so
wrongly stolen from him UNTIL they learned that Todd's son was
actually the boy they were raising. Then, suddenly, it wasn't so
horrible that Todd's son had been stolen from him. Suddenly, they had
no more sympathy for him and the hell he had gone through to try and
find his son. Suddenly, Todd was the devil incarnate and they were
pulling out all the stops to make sure he could never get his hands on
his own son; without much more than a passsing concern that he might
even lose his other two children in the process. It didn't matter
that Starr and Jack could be hurt, as long as they could hold onto a
stolen baby.

Todd was right when he told Bo and John that,
had it been him who absconded with Tommy, they would have thrown a
dragnet over the city - not to mention the State - within seconds of
finding out what he'd done, but since it was Marcie? They were giving
her all the time in the world to get away with his stolen child. Is
it any wonder Todd behaves like an arse? Even Bo - who should be
absolutely OUTRAGED by what the McBains, Rex and AdriYAWNa have done,
is dragging his heels and showing absolutely no sympathy for the man
who has had yet another roadblock thrown into the reunion between him
and his child. Bo should have done more than suspend John; he should
have fired him on the spot. He should have dragged Michael and Rex
and AdriYAWNA down to the precinct and AT LEAST questioned them about
their part in the furtherance of the baby-napping begun by Spencer.
There is no question now that Bo knows that Michael KNEW the truth
about Tommy long before it came out that day in the courtroom. He
knows Michael committed perjury. That alone should have him spitting
nails, but is he? No. Why? Because it's just Todd who was
victimized - no big deal. So he goes over to tell Nora that Marcie
kidnapped Tommy and (likely) fled the State, but does he mention
Michael's perjury? Nope. Shame, shame, shame. Bo knows what it
feels like to have a child stolen and he should be acting just as
pissed off as Nora was when she warned John that she would go after
anyone who did that to someone else - even if that someone else was
Todd Manning.

That said, this is giving us more gold in the
form of Kathy Brier's performance. WOW! She is working this
storyline for all she's worth, isn't she? Don't get me wrong, I don't
feel sorry for her - anymore - but she is rocking her scenes! Great
job, Kathy. Really great job.

GH:

I know this is likely to get me some
hatemail, but I have to say... I really haven't missed Sam McCall
these last few weeks at all.

*dodges rotten tomatoes*

I have, however, discovered a new depth in my
Lucky-disdain. Talk about an arse! Why is it obvious to everyone
BUT Lucky that he's being a complete and utter jerk?! How does he not
get that he can't just turn on a dime and suddenly not be okay with
the very custody arrangements he and Lizzeh agreed upon JUST because
Lizzeh hired (the fabulous) Diane Miller to draw up the papers?! How
childish and petty is this ponce going to get?! Honestly, his
Jason-envy has reached epic proportions and it's really gotten tired!

Another thing that (I've heard) has people
buzzing mad is the sudden introduction of the Night Shift staff. I do
understand the sentiment from the non-Nightshift fans - truly. It had
be confusing as hell when these people and storylines popped up out of
nowhere. It wasn't exactly a seamless meshing of the two shows. Even
as a Nightshift fan, I found the transition to be rather jarring, but
at least I knew who all the players were and what the storylines were
about. That said, I am personally thrilled that they brought over
some of my favorite players. Dr. Leo Julian, for one, has oodles of
potential and I cannot wait to see him utilized - especially if it
means that he will be working alongside Monica Q and Bobbie Spencer!
How great would that be?! If they still plan to revisit Maxie's heart
problems (as rumored for so long) then it would be nice to see Leo,
Monica and Bobbie working together to save her. Maxie and Leo already
have an established relationship (from Nightshift) and their chemistry
is amazing. In fact, I'd almost rather see Maxie develop an
infatuation with Leo than for her to keep on pursuing Logan, Coop or
Lucky.

Kelly and Lainey weren't new to the GH canvas,
but they were so ridiculously underused that it felt like they were
new. Cody was a relatively new player in town, but he was introduced
on GH before Nightshift began, so he's not a new-new face; and his
storyline with Lainey and her father was INCREDIBLE. That man can act
and the chemistry Cody and Lainey share is off the charts. I am SO
glad they brought him over. Really, the only character I'm not happy
to see over at GH is Leyla (whom I referred to in my NS Recap columns
as "Skankla"). I think I've run into MAYBE three people (out of
hundreds) online who actually like Skankla - the rest absolutely
abhorr her. Not all of them hate her simply because she moved in on
Patrick despite knowing that he was involved with Robin - most hate
her just because she is so... well... hateable. I'd so much rather
they have brought Nurse Regina over instead of Nurse Skankla.

*sigh*

Newness aside? I'm hoping everyone gives these
new storylines a chance. After all, how long have we been complaining
about the mob stories overshadowing General HOSPITAL? Yes, we could
have wished for a smoother transition, but that's not what we got.
Now that these stories are here, I hope everyone can begin to embrace
them rather than to balk against them. After all, the show was called
General HOSPITAL for a reason. I, for one, am glad to have a chance
at more balanced (less mob, more hospital) shows in the future.